patterns
by the moonlight mona lisa
Summary: these thoughts are louder than your own. — alice, masquerade, keith, spectra.


**this is a little different from any other bakugan story i've written in that it's not strictly a pairing story, though it does include spectra x gus and faintly imply shun x alice. no worries, though, i promise i will write full length fics for each of those pairings sometime soon.**

**happy 2015, by the way. a new year and another disclaimer. i don't own bakugan.**

* * *

_What are you doing, stupid girl? Fight him. Fight _them_. Destroy them. You and I both know you could without a wave of your hand. So what are you waiting for?!_

On many nights, Alice can't stop the thoughts. She simply lies in her bed and listens the boy talking to her, attempting to tell her to get rid of her friends, telling her to fight and destroy and ruin things. Cause tragedy. Cause pain. But even though the voice tells her she can, she knows she _can't_.

All she knows is that these thoughts are louder than her own, even when she's not alone, and even in the loud airport where her friends smile at her and she tries to act like nothing's wrong.

.

/

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_Why do you sit here and do nothing when you could have all of Vestal to yourself? Don't you want more power? Haven't you ever thought of how great it would be to have such power?_

"Keith, are you okay?" Mira asks her brother, blue eyes blinking in concern.

Keith nods and smiles, yes, he is fine, no need to worry, little sis. But he knows better than his little white lie to his sister, because these thoughts take over his mind constantly, no matter the hour of the day or his location. They're so loud that he can't hear his own thoughts anymore.

But Keith knows that he can't show it, because with their father slipping into something strange, drowning himself in his work, Keith is all Mira has.

.

/

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_Don't hurt them! Let them go! You and I both know that they don't deserve this! They're our _friends _and they're innocent! Please, just leave them alone!_

Masquerade sneers at the girl screaming at him to leave her precious friends alone. That's not how he does things, and she should know that. He is targeting them _because _they are her friends, and because he knows it will hurt her to see them hurt.

Maybe then she'll leave her body for good, and he can have it all to himself. There will be no more Alice. Just Masquerade.

(Though sometimes he can feel himself holding back because the thoughts in his head are too loud, like screams from a horror movie, and he can hear her louder than he can he hear anything else.)

.

/

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_Why are you using him like that? He's so amazing, so loyal, and he _loves _you. And _we _love him. So why do you have to be so cruel to him?_

Even using Keith's body, even having control of it, Spectra cannot escape Keith (he thought he left Keith in the dark when Keith relinquished himself to become Spectra, to become a phantom) and his annoying meddling. He just wants to put the plans in motion, and he needs Gus to do it. Why can't Keith just leave him be?

Because Keith is in love, or so he shouts from the depths of Spectra's mind. And he claims that Spectra is, as well, as if they are the same person with the same feelings (maybe Keith is right, but Spectra won't let him win, won't admit that maybe he does have feelings).

But Spectra is a phantom, and phantoms don't care about who they have to use to get where they want to go. So, no, the blushing, blue haired man in front of him does not create any feelings in his heart, despite the loud thoughts that scream at him (and his quickly beating heart that betrays him).

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/

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Alice can still hear him, though he is not as loud as he used to be. She knows he's there, somewhere in the far corners of her mind, ready to help her if she needs it. The thought of that makes her smile. She doesn't particularly miss the loud, torturous thoughts despite the fact that she actually likes Masquerade now, but the thought of him sometimes keeps her up.

He might not physically be with her anymore, but her memories of him keep the loud thoughts alive, and even though she can't hear them anymore, they're still loud and demanding.

(Shun eyes her from afar, sometimes, his eyes asking her if she's okay, but she wouldn't know what to say, even to him.)

.

/

.

Keith kisses Gus. The latter is immensely surprised, and all Keith can think about besides Gus is Spectra, and how glad he is to get rid of that man so he can finally have _feelings _again. Sometimes, though, he can still hear the phantom speak to him, though they are only whispers now.

But they remain louder than anything else he can hear, even his loyal Gus, and as Keith lays down to sleep each night, he wonders when Spectra will stop whispering his demands and when Spectra will realize that he has failed.


End file.
